Apparatus for removing and replacing car-wheels



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

J. H. VREELAND. APPARATUS FOR REMOVING AND REPLACING GAR WHEELS.

No. 314,895. Patented Mar. 31, 1885.

Iizrenlor I Wibzesses fled/M (No ModeL) 28heets-Sheet 2. J. H. VRE'ELAND.

APPARATUS FOR REMOVING AND REPLACING GAR WHEELS. No. 314,895. Patented Mar. 31, 1885.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JACOB H. VBEELAND, OF JERSEY CITY, NE\V JERSEY.-

APPARATUS FOR REMOVING AND REPLACING CAR-WHEELS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 314,895, dated March 31, 1885,

Application filed September 18, 1884. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, J AOOB H. VREELAND, of Jersey City, Hudson county, New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Removing and Replacing Locomotive or Oar WVh eels, of which the following is a specification.

It is well known that the driving-wheels of locomotives have to be removed many times during the life of the engine in order to repair the journal-boxes or journals, or to true the wheels and make other repairs on the parts, which can only be accomplish ed by bodily removing the wheels. As the driving-wheels are fixed firmly to the axles, and are very large and heavy, each pair of wheels requires to be taken bodily from under the engine and laid aside for the completion of the necessary repairs, and afterward replaced.

Heretofore the means employed in railroadshops for performing the said work have been very unsatisfactory on account of their crudeness, and of the danger, labor, delay, and expense attending the work. The methods employed have been chiefly two, in the first of which the entire engine is raised by jacks and held up by blocks placed under the frame until the engine is lifted above the tops of the driving-wheels sufficient to allow the wheels to be rolled from under the engine. In the other system the entire engine is swung in chains under an elevated platform, and lifted by four screws extending down from the platform, one at each corner, and connected with capstans, which are worked by gangs of men on the top of the platform. In both systems it will be seen that the entire engine has to be lifted above the tops of the driving-wheels, and the immense weight of the engine there sustained, which, as will be seen, is an operation attended with considerable danger to the workmen as well as to the engine, and is very laborious, consuming a great deal of time, and demands the labor of a large number of men, whichare very serious objections.

Now, the object of my invention is to enable the driving-wheels to be removed easily and quickly without lifting the engine at all, or re moving it from the rails, and without the noessity of employing many hands in the operation. To this end 1 construct a pit below the rails or track on which the engine is run, this pit extending transversely under the track, and being provided with a powerful hydraulic jack or other lifting mechanism mounted on a suitable truck or carriage,which is movable along the bottom of the pit and beneath the track on which the engine is placed; This pit also crosses and runs under a second or side track running alongside the first track on which the engine is placed. These tracks are provided with a movable section of rails which crosses and bridges the transverse pit, and which can be removed as occasion requires. The operation is therefore as follows: \Vhen the engine is run in on the track, with the desired pair of driving-wheels on the bridging-rails over the cross-pit, the necessary disconnections of parts are first made to allow the removal of the wheels from under the engine, and after this the jack is then run along the cross-pit and under the middle of the axle, and is then pumped up until its ram-head has borne upon the middle of the axle, and just raised the wheels oif the bridging-rails over the pit. These bridging-rails are then removed and the jack then allowedto run down, which will cause the wheels to descend into the pit, bringing their tops below the frame of the engine, after which the jack carrying the pair of driving-wheels is moved along in the pit from under the engine, and is thus brought in line with the second or side track, at which point the jack is again pumped up to raise the wheels out of the pit and above the rails of the side track. The bridging-rails are now put in under the wheels in line with the rails of the side track, and the wheels can then be lowered thereon by letting down the jack, and the wheels thus rolled off on the side track. Each pair of wheels may thus be successively removed in this way without ever lifting the engine, and without exposing men or engine to the danger attending the lifting thereof, and, besides, the operations can be performed easily and quickly by a small number of men and without requiring to occupy much space in the shops or yards, which are most important advantages.

My invention therefore consists in the features above outlined, as hereinafter fully set forth.

In the drawings annexed, Figure 1 presents a sectional longitudinal view of my improvement, and Fig. 2 a plan thereof, in which I When the engine is to be run in on the rails the line 00 0c shows the plane of section of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a transverse section on line 3/ y of Figs. 1 and 2 on an enlarged scale. Fig. 4 is a plan of a modification.

In Figs. 1, 2, and 3, a a indicate the rails of the track on which the engine is run for repairs. This track is provided between and beneath the rails with the usual or ordinary repair-pit, b 1), running longitudinally or on theline of the track, which willallow the workmen to get in under the engine to make any repairs or examinations thereof, which can be done without actually removing the wheels and axles. In addition to this ordinary or longitudinal pit b I), however, I sink an additional pit, whichIcall my drop-pit, A, which runs transversely to the track a a and intersects the repair-pit b, and also extends down below the floor of the repair-pit b, as best shown in Fig. 1. On the bottom of the drop pit A a narrow-railed track, 0 c, is laid, on which is placed ajack truck or carriage, B, carrying a powerful hydraulic jack, O, or other lifting-machine, as fully shown in Figs. 1, 2, and The stroke of the jack is a little greater than the maximum diameter of the driving-wheels to be removed, and the depth of the drop-pit is sufficient to allow the wheel .to descend sufficiently therein to allow its top to pass under the frame of the engine, as will be readily understood. A deep channel, d, is made in the bottom of the drop-pit between the rails c c to allow the lower part of the jackcylinder to hang down below the truck about two-thirds of the length of the cylinder projecting down into the said channel,while onethird projects above the truck, as shown best in Figs. 1 and 3. The drop-pit A extends be yond the repair-pit b slightly on one side, and extends considerably beyond the same on the opposite side, and crosses under a second or side track, ff, running parallel with the first, or in any other convenient position. It will also be seen that the rails c and channel at of the drop-pit extend along under both tracks, so that the jack 0 B can be run along the bottom of the drop-pit back or forth across I and under either track, as will be readily comprehended from the drawings.

In Fig. 8, 9 indicates the pump-lever of the jack, which projects from one side of the cylinder in the usual way out into the pit, where it can beeasily operated by the workmen, who go down therein for that purpose.

It indicates the ram, the head h of which has a semicircular recess on the top to fit un-' der and against the axle of the driving-wheels when pumped up thereagainst, as shown in Fig. 1.

In Figs. 1 and 2, It It indicate the removable or bridging rails, which extend over and bridge the drop-pit A in line with the rails of either track a a or f f, which rails are fastened to strong timbers Z Z and supported on piers or brackets m at just at the end of the fixed rails to a orff, as fully shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

a a, the bridging-rails k k are of course putin place across the drop-pit A, in line with the rails a a, and the engine then moved along until the driving-wheels which itis desired to remove are over the center of the drop-pit, resting on the bridging-rails 7t It, as shown in Fig. 1. In case all the driving-wheels are to be removed successively, the back end of the engine will of course be supported on a temporary truck, temporarily fastened under the fire-box of the engine, as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1, the front end of the engine being of course always supported by the front truck. The engine being therefore placed as just described, and illustrated in Fig. 1, the usual clamp-bars on the frame below the journal-boxes are removed and the eccentrics disconnected, so as to allow the boxes and axle of the desired pair of wheels to be removed from the frame, after which the jack 'B O is then run along the drop-pit and brought centrally under the axle of the driving-wheels, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, and the jack is then pumped up until the ram-head bears upon the middle of the axle, and finally lifts the pair of wheels just off the bridging-rails k 70. The bridgingrails are then removed from under the wheels and lifted out of the pit, after which thejack is allowed to run down, thus causing the driving-wheels to drop down gradually into the drop-pit A until the tops of the driving-wheels are brought below the bottoni of the engine-frames, as shown by dot-ted lines in Fig. 1, when the descent of the jack is then arrested, and the jack with its load is then rolled along the drop pit toward the trackff, where the jack is now pumped up again to raise the wheels a little above the rails f f, at which point the jack is stopped. The bridging-rails k k are now put in under the wheels and in line with the rails of the track ff, after which the jack is run down to let the wheels down on the bridgingmails and to allow the ram-head to descend clear of the axle, after which the wheels may be rolled off the bridging-rails onto the track ff, where they may be allowed to remain until the necessary repairs are made, or from which they can be removed by cranes or tackle to the turning-lathes or other machine tools for repairing the same. has been removed, as described,-the jack is run back again under the engine, and the bridging-rails 7c is are replaced, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and the engine is then moved along the track a a until the next pair of driving-wheels is brought upon the bridging-rails and over the jack, when the same operations are repeated to remove the second pair of wheels and place them on the side track, f f, as will be readily understood.

After the necessary repairs have been made to the parts, the wheels can be easily replaced on the engine by reversing the operations described, as will be readily comprehended. It ,will, therefore, be now appreciated that by my After one pair of wheels apparatus the wheels can be removed from and replaced on the engine without ever requiring to lift the engine from the rails, and this work can be done in a very easy and quick manner compared with the former system. A further advantage is that two or three men can perform the work for which a large number have been heretofore required, and their work is rendered comparatively light and easy, as the movements of the truck and jack are easy and are easily controlled. Furthermore, this apparatus is very simple, and its first cost is light, and it may be said to occupy no additional room in the railway shops or yards, as it all lies beneath the usual tracks found therein. Hence by this invention the heretofore diiiicult, expensive, and dangerous Work of removing and replacing locomotive-wheels is rendered inexpensive, easy, and safe, and it thus presents an important improvement in the repairing apparatus of railway-shops.

It will of course be understood that the ap-- paratus maybe used for removing and replacing the wheels of railway-cars as well' as those of the engine, or for any similar work. The additional or side track, ff, is not of course an essential, and it may be dispensed with, it being onlynecessary that the droppit extend beyond the track on which the engine is placed in such a way that the jack can be moved from under the engine to transport the wheels therefrom. It is of course preferable to employ the additional track f on which to transfer the removed wheels, and it is preferable to have the drop-pit extend laterally of the two tracks, as shown. The drop-pit might, however, be made to extend longitudinally under the main track, so that the jack could transport the removed wheels lengthwise under the engine and raise the same out of an opening in the pit in front of the engine, as shown in Fig. 4:; but it is obvious that the preferred construction illustrated is the best. It is not of course necessary that the track or road-bed on which the engine is supported above the drop'pit be a regular railed track, as any equivalent supporting-way will of course be the legal equivalent of an ordinary railway track.

I have illustrated a hydraulic jack on the carriage B as the most preferred form of raising and lowering machine; but of course any other suitable kind of jack operated by steam or other motive fluid, or any other form of raising and lowering machine, may be used.

What I claim is 1. An apparatus for removing or replacing engine or car wheels, consisting in the combination, with the track or rails on which the engine or car is supported, of a pit beneath the same having an opening in the track under the engine and an opening beyond the position of the engine, with a movable jack or equivalent lifting machine movable in the pit from one opening to the other, and having its ram capable of being raised or lowered, whereby the wheels may be lifted from the engine, and, the supporting-rails being removed, may be then lowered in the pit and thence transported to the distant opening and raised out of the same, substantially as here in set forth.

2. In a wheel removing and replacing apparatus, the combination, with the supporting track or way, of a pit beneath the same opening under the supporting-track at one end and extending therefrom and opening beyond the track at the other end, with removable bridge-rails bridging the pit at the supportingtrack, a movable truck or carrier arranged to move in the bottom of the pit from one opening to the other, and a hydraulic jack or equivalent raising and lowering machine, arranged and operating substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. In a wheel removing and replacing apparatus, the combination, with thesupporting-track and an additional side or transfer track, of a pit extending transversely beneath both tracks and opening beneath the same, with a movable truck or carriage arranged to move in the bottom of the pit from one track to the other, and a lifting and lowering jack or machine thereon, with movable bridgingrails arranged to bridge the pit coincident with either track, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

JACOB H. VREELAND.

XVit-nesses:

J NO. E. GAVIN, CHAS. M. HIGGINS. 

